The foot soldiers of change

A former MLA with a database of birthdays and anniversaries of his voters. A former state minister who has come to grips with the ways of Delhi before he can come to grips with Hindi. An unassuming royal who stands in lines at airports despite being civil aviation minister. A former police commissioner who has discarded khaki for colourful kurtas and the dues of sugarcane farmers. A former army chief, a former home secretary, five former chief ministers, dozens of farmers, businesspersons and social workers. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, entertainers. As different from each other as their disparate vocations, yet bound by a common political thread.

In the year that saw a tectonic shift in India's political landscape and brought a party to power with a clear majority for the first time in three decades, they are the foot soldiers of political change. The men and women who symbolise the break from the past. As the 315 firsttime MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha, they represent the Indian voter's overwhelming desire for change as much as their own ambition to make it to the top of the sweepstakes of electoral politics.

As a number, 315 is no record. More first-timers made it to the Lok Sabha in 1967, 1977 and 1980. Even in 2009, that big vote for continuity, there were 302 first-time MPs. But 2014 has more in common with those earlier three elections because it allowed the outsider to challenge the incumbent in Delhi, and triumph like few others in history. Something which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of the 315, made it a point to stress after the elections.

Politician's progress

Take the former MLA with a database of birthdays and anniversaries of his voters: Om Birla, 51, elected from Kota in Rajasthan. A three-term BJP MLA, Birla defies all assumptions about a first-time MP. Having started off as a student activist in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, Birla can serve as a consultant to many a wannabe MP and teach them a thing or two about winning elections.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Arvind Sawant, Om Birla

Showing off the software he used to manage his own election campaign at the booth level, Birla says he continues to use it to track social occasions such as birthdays, marriage anniversaries and death anniversaries that he needs to attend to stay in touch with his voters.

"I have got all the relevant information of voters compiled in this database and the software keeps updating me. I send them greetings for these occasions or call them up or even drop in to wish them personally.

This helps me connect better with my constituents," says Birla as he makes a presentation of his election management software.

Birla, however, is no managerturned-politician who wins elections with the help of technology and resources. In fact, he is the quintessential politician who rose through the ranks. He was the national vice-president of the BJYM until 2003 before contesting his first Assembly polls that he won. Now, the MP has been named as one of the party whips in the Lok Sabha and he is on a new learning curve: getting used to the cosmopolitan House of the People which has members from varied cultures and speaking many languages.

Another newbie who has been there and done that at the state level is Mohan Kundariya. The 62-yearold BJP MP from Gujarat was MLA four times and also a minister under chief minister Narendra Modi. Kundariya is struggling with his Hindi in the national capital but not in his new role as a Member of Parliament. Weeks after the Modi Government was sworn in, the MP, who has not studied beyond high school and lists his vocation as "agriculturist", was in Krishi Bhawan to meet Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, a four-term Lok Sabha MP.

Kundariya wanted to highlight what he says are the impracticalities in the Government's agricultural insurance scheme. As it turned out, the minister was yet to be fully briefed on the subject.

The election of the likes of the Om Birlas and the Mohan Kundariyas gives crucial political context to the presence of 315 first-timers in the Lok Sabha. There are at least 122 first-time MPs who were MLAs, or in other words, nearly 40 per cent of the first-time MPs have contested popular elections and have legislative experience. Five among them are former chief ministers. Their entry into the Lok Sabha, therefore, can also be seen as the logical progress in their political journey. The element of continuity in change.

Royal commoner

During his high-pitch election campaign, Modi never lost an opportunity to portray the contest as a challenge to the dynastic politics of the UPA. But that did not stop the election of at least 95 first-timers who have relatives, including some in their immediate family, in politics. In fact, there are six first-time MPs with links to India's erstwhile royal families, taking forward a political legacy of a different kind and lending credence to the dynastic democracy theory of some scholars.

'I have learnt how arduous it is to become a politician. One is on the job day and night,' says Satyapal Singh, BJP MP, Baghpat.

Among them, Raju stands out as he has been made civil aviation minister on his debut on the national stage. Raju has been an MLA seven times, winning his first election as a Janata Party candidate in 1978 before he joined the TDP when it was formed. He has been a minister in the cabinets of N.T. Rama Rao and Chandrababu Naidu, holding portfolios such as excise, revenue and finance. And in a welcome contrast to the general perception that dynastic power breeds arrogance, the "Raja" of Vizianagaram has maintained a low profile, so much so that few in the Capital were aware of his royal background until he was nominated by the TDP to Modi's Cabinet.

"For us he has been a pleasant surprise," says Satyanarayana, office secretary in the TDP's parliamentary party office. "During the session he regularly visits the party office in Parliament before the House assembles and meets ordinary party workers, leaders and visitors before attending to his parliamentary duties. This is a subtle acknowledgment of his commitment towards the party." Raju has also made headlines for his unassuming ways. When even former civil aviation ministers insist on VIP treatment and privileges at airports, the serving minister stands in queues for security checks and uses public ferry buses between the terminal and the aircraft.

Raju feels there should be no bar on those wanting to participate in politics as it is political parties and not individuals that set the agenda. "I do not think India will turn into a dynastic democracy. Narendra Modi's election as prime minister is a testimony to this," he says.

Raju also carries his political progress to Delhi and the civil aviation ministry lightly. "I have been a longtime legislator in Andhra Pradesh. I have contested eight times and won seven times. So, I am not new to parliamentary procedures. The only thing is that subjects here are different in some sense from that in the states," he says. "I have been in the government as well as in the opposition in the state, so I have gone through the whole gamut."

The only difference between Hyderabad and Delhi is that cabinet meetings in the state included all ministers while ministers of state are excluded in Delhi. And Delhi has weekly meetings while it was once a fortnight in Hyderabad.

Revolving doors

If members of the erstwhile royal families are seeking to perpetuate their clout by participating in elections, those in the service of government have tried to expand their standing by joining politics. Firsttime MPs in the Lok Sabha include 15 who have served government in the past, with former army chief General V.K. Singh and former home secretary R.K. Singh being the more high profile. While the two had retired before joining the BJP, Satyapal Singh quit as Mumbai police commissioner and took voluntary retirement in January to join the BJP and make a spectacular foray into politics.

'I started my career as a member of Morbi panchayat in 1984 and became an MLA in 1995. It is a great honour to be in Parliament,' says Mohan Kundariya, BJP MP, Rajkot.

Satyapal Singh was inducted into the BJP at a massive rally in Meerut on February 2 which was addressed by Modi. The former Mumbai Police chief went on to defeat former prime minister Charan Singh's son and Union minister Ajit Singh from Baghpat. And if his response to Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar's criticism of top government officers joining politics is any indication, Satyapal appears to have picked up the threads of politics rather quickly. "He made a political comment. He did not mean it," Satyapal says when asked about Pawar arguing that top officers who have joined politics could have been biased while in service.

The former top cop has also smoothly discarded his khaki uniform of decades for colourful kurtas in Parliament, and is seen taking the proceedings seriously. He also seems to have realised the significance of Parliament to voice the concerns of those he represents, raising the issue of the dues of sugarcane farmers of western Uttar Pradesh through calling attention in the Lok Sabha.

"I have learnt how arduous it is to become a politician. One is on the job day and night," Satyapal says, adding that Parliament is a learning theatre where he often finds leaders from across the political divide making valuable suggestions. Former bureaucrats, he thinks, have the potential to contribute to the deliberations by highlighting the feasibility of enforcing policies/legislations that are being framed.

For someone who is new to politics, Satyapal says the two-day training camp organised by the BJP for its first-time MPs in Surajkund ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament was a great help.

Business of politics

It may just be a coincidence but businesspersons have entered the Lok Sabha in numbers in an election the BJP's PM candidate rode to power on a pro-business platform. Sixty-five first-time MPs have been found to be businesspersons, the second largest group after the 68 so-called agriculturists. First-timers such as Rabindra Kumar Jena (BJD, Balasore), Kesineni Srinivas (TDP, Vijayawada) and Kunwar Haribansh Singh (Apna Dal, Pratapgarh) have little to show for a political career. While Jena has been working in the mining sector, Srinivas operates a travels business and Singh is into real estate.

Jena, whose uncle was in politics, had rarely indicated his desire to join him while he worked in industry. He started as a trainee in 1990 and was MD of Balasore Alloys Ltd when he quit in 2011. He claims that his "social work" got him noticed by BJD chief Naveen Patnaik who offered him a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections against Odisha Congress leader and Union minister Srikant Jena.

While Rabindra Kumar Jena managed to defeat the Union minister, it was not before the Congress leader hurled allegations against the BJD candidate for his involvement in an alleged mining scam.

"I had never imagined being in politics. While I was not in politics, I used to be on friendly terms with Srikant Jena. But he turned against me when it appeared that I would be fielded against him and levelled allegations," Rabindra Kumar Jena says. He says there is nothing wrong in people who have the experience of managing businesses joining politics.

"Those who have managed businesses know how to manage things with given resources. This will help them contribute meaningfully in the deliberations in Parliament," Rabindra says. But he also does not discount that there could be a "few elements" who may try to use their political position to further their business interests.

Analysts are not surprised by such a large number of people with a business background entering politics. The trend, they say, reflects the incentives politics offers candidates with a business background.

"In many aspects, the competition to get the ticket is fiercer than the electoral competition itself. In most parties, candidates are expected to fund their own campaign, contribute to party funding. They also need to fund their entry in politics sometimes years in advance, in order to attract the attention of parties. In such circumstances, it is not surprising that so many new entrants come from a business background," says Gilles Verniers, an assistant professor of politics at Ashoka University.

"It is therefore not surprising to see so many ex-MLAs contesting successfully. Their profile very often coincides with this emerging profile of businessmen-politicians. Those who made the most of it, built the most expansive local and political network, can cash in on the benefits by obtaining a Lok Sabha ticket."

Professionals, activists

The legal profession, and to an extent teaching, has been a traditional breeding pool for a career in politics. This time though, doctors stand out as first-time MPs with 19 of them in the list of 315 as against 31 lawyers and 15 teachers. Professionals from the entertainment sector are close behind with 12 members, including Kirron Kher, Paresh Rawal, Babul Supriyo and Moon Moon Sen. In contrast, there are only seven first-time MPs who list politics as their profession, a gross underestimation considering the popular practice of politicians to call themselves social workers- there are 37 among the first-timers- or farmers.

'It is wonderful entering the temple of democracy. It allows us to contribute to the national cause,' says Kesineni Srinivas, TDP MP, Vijayawada

The entry of the dynasts, royals, former government servants and professionals has not overshadowed the activist-politician or the streetfighter though. They are the original political activists, having got their feet wet in university politics or youth politics or in trade unions. And the list of first-timers in the 16th Lok Sabha is not bereft of them. A random sampling of this category shows up names such as Youth Congress leader Rajiv Satav, BJYM leader Harish Dwivedi, Osmania University student leader Balka Suman and MTNL trade union leader Arvind Sawant.

Political observers say that there would be others who would have participated in the JP student movement of the 1970s but entered Parliament in 2014.

While Satav and Dwivedi have risen through the ranks of youth politics and contested Assembly elections, it was pure activism that got Balka Suman a ticket to the Lok Sabha. The Osmania University student leader participated in the Telangana agitation and rose to head the TRS' student wing before contesting from Peddapalle.

Sawant, who defeated Milind Deora of the Congress from South Mumbai, remains a quintessential activist ready to fight for almost any issue. This was in evidence at the New Maharashtra Sadan when he and his fellow Shiv Sena MPs raised a storm over the alleged poor facilities to new members staying there. Asked about the ugly row which assumed communal overtones, Sawant said: "We do not tolerate injustice. This is what we have been taught by Balasaheb Thackeray." That, perhaps, is another instance of continuity riding on change.